Presently, there is a wide variety of pallets available for supporting loads above the ground and for transporting these loads from place to place. These pallets are adapted for use with material handling equipment such as forklifts. The forklifts facilitate the transportation of loads placed on the pallets from one location to another. To move a load from one location to another, the forklift is maneuvered to insert its forks into channels beneath the surface of the pallet.
Most commercially available pallets are typically made of wood. These conventional wooden pallets are cumbersome and are not easily moved or stacked without assistance. Recently, however, alternatives to these wooden pallets have appeared. Typically, these known alternative pallets are made of light-weight materials such as plastic.
These light-weight pallets, as well as the conventional wooden pallets, are designed for providing a flat, load-bearing surface for supporting conventional loads. These conventional loads have a solid, flat base which are well suited for resting upon the flat surface of a pallet. Some loads which typically do not have a flat bottom, such as copiers and ATMs, may be containerized in a primary carton, case, etc. By prepackaging the copiers and ATMs, their own packaging creates a flat bottom which enables them to be palletized as conventional loads.
However, some items which do not have a solid, flat base and can not be containerized are not able to be palletized. These items may be characterized as unconventional loads. Examples of unconventional loads include telephone switching stations, appliances, and office furniture. Typically, these unconventional items have levelers which extend outwardly from the base of the item. Because of the levelers, these items can not be properly supported upon the flat, load-bearing surface of most known pallets.
There are some pallets which have been modified or designed for receiving unconventional loads with levelers. However, these pallets are not well suited for receiving both conventional and unconventional loads. Typically, these pallets are primarily designed for only one type of load; either a conventional load or an unconventional load. Moreover, these known pallets are not suited for reducing shock and vibration transferred to the load during transportation and handling.
Manufacturers often utilize shock absorbing materials when palletizing conventional as well as unconventional loads. The shock absorbing material helps to support sensitive items such as electronics which normally could not be palletized on standard pallets due to the risk of damage from vibration and shock associated with normal transportation and handling. Different types of shock absorbing material may be utilized for different types of loads. However, when an item is to be shipped, the shock absorbing material is often included as part of the items packaging and not as an integral part of the pallet. The used shock absorbing material is then discarded and new shock absorbing material is required when palletizing the next load.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pallet that receives conventional and unconventional loads and provides shock and vibration resistance for conventional and unconventional loads.